Maria Sakkari (WTA)
China’s Qinwen Zheng will take on 5th seed Maria Sakkari in the first round of the Qatar Open
Maria Sakkari is the No.5 seed in the tournament and one of the favourites to clinch the title. The Greek star has had an underwhelming season so far and will be looking to turn things around in Qatar. She made it to the semi-finals of this event last year and will be aiming to go two places better this year.
Sakkari is coming into this tournament after a frustrating semi-final loss to Petra Martic in the Linz Open. She started the year with a disappointing third-round loss against China’s Zhu Lin at the Australian Open last month. Despite not being in the best of form, Sakkari is certainly one of the favourites to go all the way in this tournament.
Zheng is coming into the tournament following an impressive run at the Abu Dhabi Open last week. During her commendable run till the semis, Zheng got the better of 5th seed Jelena Ostapenko and top seed Daria Kasatkina before eventually losing to Liudmila Samsonova. The Chinese ace will look to carry forward this positive momentum to Qatar and cause more upsets.
Date – Monday, 13th February
Court Type – Outdoor Hard Court
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – To be announced
Location – Doha
Match details – First Round
Sakkari and Zheng have played each other once before on the WTA tour. Sakkari emerged victorious in that sole encounter and leads the overall head-to-head 1-0. The Greek star is the clear favourite going into this match both in terms of experience and rankings. It will be an uphill task for Zheng in this encounter but she is expected to pose a tough challenge. We are predicting a win in three sets for Maria Sakkari.
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